Murray also said he was not about to trade Jason Spezza or Dany Heatley, saying the team made a commitment to those players being part of the team’s core group. He acknowledged that both had poor playoffs and were spoken to about it on Thursday, but added, “I’m not going to discard players like these two people.”

Update from Friday’s morning skate: Rookie Darren Helm will make his playoff debut debut in Game 5 vs. Nashville, replacing Mark Hartigan. The fast-skating Helm will center the fourth line with Darren McCarty and Dallas Drake.

“Really excited and nervous at the same time,’’ Helm said. “There’s a lot of young guys up, being one of the first guys to jump in definitely means a lot to me, gives me some confidence that they believe in me.’‘

Oh and Kris Draper has gone ahead and confirmed for us that Jordin Tootoo is a piece of trash.

With that settled, it’s on to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals tonight at Prudential Center with the Rangers leading three games to one and looking to wrap up the series with one more victory.

Should the Rangers advance to the Stanley Cup Final, a select number of members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Assn., including those of us who cover the team throughout the season, would be thrust into a conflict of interest, for the final step in triggering the automatic one-year extension at $8.36M (with a cap hit of $4.94M) is Jagr winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.

A select number of writers votes for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Thus, as it now stands, we have it in our power to determine whether Jagr remains under contract to the Rangers or becomes eligible for unrestricted free agency. As it stands now, we will have more of a say than Glen Sather, Tom Renney, Jim Dolan and Aaron Ward.

Devils Coach Brent Sutter took special interest in the matter after the game, saying that if the Rangers were allowed to run into Brodeur, then his team would make it a point to crash into Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

It seems to have become a rallying cry for the Devils, who are trying to become only the 19th team in N.H.L. history to rebound from a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

“They are getting away with it; we should be able to get away with it, too,” Devils forward Jay Pandolfo said. “That’s the only thing you can do. It’s out of your hands after that. Sure enough, they are going to hit Marty, and if we retaliate we’ll probably get a penalty. It’s tough, but it’s been going on all series.”

“If we are going to win the series we have to win one in the Joe, plain and simple. We expect an all-out effort on our end. I know we are going to see the best that Detroit has to offer.

“We are not intimidated by that. I think we know we have to come in and play our ‘A’ game. The more times we play at the Joe, the better chance we have of it happening. That’s just the odds.”

Beating the Red Wings for the third straight time might be an even bigger challenge.

“I don’t think anyone can say they have beaten Detroit three times in a row in the last 10 seasons, never mind this season,” Trotz said. “Detroit is not rattled. They are a very poised team. They are going to come out with an outstanding effort….”

They talked. That’s about all Peter Chiarelli would say. Some 48 hours after Harry Sinden kicked Chiarelli’s team down the block and around the corner, Chiarelli and Sinden talked for about a half-hour yesterday by phone, Chiarelli here with his Bruins and Sinden from his home in Florida, where he has spent most of this season.
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“I had a long talk with Harry today, and I think it’s best, for many reasons, that I don’t get into specifics,” said Chiarelli, standing outside his club’s dressing room at Bell Centre, less than an hour before the Bruins beat the Canadiens, 5-1. “He was contrite . . . and I’ll leave it at that.”

“Unfortunately we didn’t get it done tonight, but we’re going to do more of the same and go re-group and just get ready for Game 6,” Iginla said. “We really believe we can get Game 6 and we come back here for Game 7.”

While the Flames continue to search for production from the likes of Kristian Huselius, Alex Tanguay, Craig Conroy and Matthew Lombardi, the Sharks seem to be rolling because more of its second-tier players have stepped forward.

“I don’t know how much scoring depth we have, we’re a little bit top heavy at times,” said Sharks coach Ron Wilson. “Scoring comes and goes, you have to be a little bit lucky. Goal scoring is about being patient, being the right spot and being in the play. It’s not being in a hurry to get somewhere.”

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